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Words that have two meanings that are opposites: let's bash these TTTs

fucking "deceptively" "the question was de...
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
Oversight
zombie-like selfie
  02/15/22
ooh good one! "this oversight was a result of a seri...
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
That's not a function of the word but of pragmatics pertaini...
Citrine Cruise Ship Sex Offender
  02/15/22
fine - i mean words that CAN, depending on context, mean two...
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
Broadly speaking, any word can have two opposite meanings in...
Citrine Cruise Ship Sex Offender
  02/15/22
credited analysis ty!! i don't necessarily share your inter...
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
need julia here
talented feces stag film
  02/15/22
inflammable
passionate sticky church building
  02/15/22
(dr. nick)
buck-toothed striped hyena pocket flask
  02/15/22
well the issue with that one is that the two words sound lik...
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
cleave
arousing clear business firm
  02/15/22
titc cleave
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
that one was my contribution the last time we did this threa...
Aphrodisiac narrow-minded dingle berry
  02/16/22
so far oversight is the only one
Up-to-no-good Shrine
  02/15/22
Sanction
Balding angry meetinghouse deer antler
  02/15/22
...
Razzmatazz Marketing Idea Dopamine
  02/15/22
another good one!
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
faggot
odious mildly autistic pistol codepig
  02/15/22
🤔🤔🤔
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
Overlook
Balding angry meetinghouse deer antler
  02/15/22
cr similar to oversight
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
They're called contronyms btw, u can find huge lists
Balding angry meetinghouse deer antler
  02/15/22
tyty! it would be funny if "contronym" also meant...
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
...
Balding angry meetinghouse deer antler
  02/16/22
...
Citrine Cruise Ship Sex Offender
  02/15/22
science
diverse gaped temple
  02/15/22
lol, fair
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
cavalier
obsidian crackhouse
  02/15/22
rly? what are the two meanings?
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
moot
house-broken jap
  02/15/22
whoa i didn't even know it had the "debatable" mea...
Floppy box office
  02/15/22
...
oomox
  04/07/26


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:16 PM
Author: Floppy box office

fucking "deceptively"

"the question was deceptively simple" can mean that it seems simple but isn't, OR that it doesn't seem simple but it is

WHYYY

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974432)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:17 PM
Author: zombie-like selfie

Oversight

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974433)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:18 PM
Author: Floppy box office

ooh good one!

"this oversight was a result of a serious lack of oversight"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974437)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:18 PM
Author: Citrine Cruise Ship Sex Offender

That's not a function of the word but of pragmatics pertaining to the properties of the question. I thought this thread was about stuff like innervate / enervate.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974438)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:22 PM
Author: Floppy box office

fine - i mean words that CAN, depending on context, mean two things that are opposites*

but innervate/enervate is welcome here too, equally TTT

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974453)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:35 PM
Author: Citrine Cruise Ship Sex Offender

Broadly speaking, any word can have two opposite meanings in the sense you mean if you vary the pragmatics—that is why irony is possible and so rich in language. Your issue seems to be with imprecision introduced by using a word like "deceptively" to modify an adjective, since there's ambiguity about whether what is "deceptive" is the easiness or the initial appearance while the true nature is easy.

The meaning can be cleaned up a bit by just modifying the word order and punctuation:

"Deceptively, the test was simple" to my ear sounds like the test was in fact simple;

"The test was simple—deceptively" sounds to me like it appeared simple but that appearance was deceptive.

Still, all told this is an unfortunate construction and best avoided altogether save when strategic ambiguity is the goal.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974532)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:41 PM
Author: Floppy box office

credited analysis ty!! i don't necessarily share your interpretations of the two examples you gave, but good call about the ambiguity of what "deceptively" is modifying

and yeah i realized after poasting that someone was probably going to point out that ANY word can mean diff things based on context >__>

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974553)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:22 PM
Author: talented feces stag film

need julia here

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974454)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:23 PM
Author: passionate sticky church building

inflammable

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974458)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:24 PM
Author: buck-toothed striped hyena pocket flask

(dr. nick)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974466)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:26 PM
Author: Floppy box office

well the issue with that one is that the two words sound like opposites but are synonyms. also TTT. i'm guessing the "in" is from "inflame" but i'm too lazy to verify

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974475)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:24 PM
Author: arousing clear business firm

cleave

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974462)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:26 PM
Author: Floppy box office

titc cleave

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974477)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 16th, 2022 3:06 PM
Author: Aphrodisiac narrow-minded dingle berry

that one was my contribution the last time we did this thread

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43978151)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:25 PM
Author: Up-to-no-good Shrine

so far oversight is the only one

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974468)



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Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Balding angry meetinghouse deer antler

Sanction

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974480)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: Razzmatazz Marketing Idea Dopamine



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974481)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:28 PM
Author: Floppy box office

another good one!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974485)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:27 PM
Author: odious mildly autistic pistol codepig

faggot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974482)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:34 PM
Author: Floppy box office

🤔🤔🤔

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974524)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:29 PM
Author: Balding angry meetinghouse deer antler

Overlook

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974492)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:31 PM
Author: Floppy box office

cr similar to oversight

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974509)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:30 PM
Author: Balding angry meetinghouse deer antler

They're called contronyms btw, u can find huge lists

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974499)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:32 PM
Author: Floppy box office

tyty! it would be funny if "contronym" also meant "words that sound like antonyms but are synonyms"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974513)



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Date: February 16th, 2022 3:04 PM
Author: Balding angry meetinghouse deer antler



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43978133)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:36 PM
Author: Citrine Cruise Ship Sex Offender



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974536)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:33 PM
Author: diverse gaped temple

science

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974519)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:42 PM
Author: Floppy box office

lol, fair

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974557)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:34 PM
Author: obsidian crackhouse

cavalier

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974525)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:43 PM
Author: Floppy box office

rly? what are the two meanings?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974559)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:35 PM
Author: house-broken jap

moot

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974531)



Reply Favorite

Date: February 15th, 2022 9:44 PM
Author: Floppy box office

whoa i didn't even know it had the "debatable" meaning; i always just used it to mean "irrelevant"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#43974567)



Reply Favorite

Date: April 7th, 2026 10:21 PM
Author: oomox



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5032956&forum_id=2).#49802525)